Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Exploring Sky's Darkest Time: Into the Woods
by Icelandic.Glaceon
Summary: With their journey to the safe haven Southpoint Town finshed, Six and Lux can finally relax - for a few hours. With a dangerous outlaw roaming around the usually safe Basil Woods forest, the quirky duo had no choice but to stop him from causing further more damage. This is Part Two of the PMDESDT series.
1. Prologue: The Capture

The young Eevee woke up with a sudden jolt while yelling, "Natalie?!"

Huffing, she stood up and quickly looked around for her friend with sweat beading and dripping down her forehead.

As she frantically looked around, a Pidgeot let out a piercing shriek from the trees while a Skarmory took off from a large branch, flying away.

"Natalie! Where are you?" She called out frantically.

The only answer she got was a gentle breeze in the wind.

She tried again, determined to find her best friend, "Natalie!"

Every time the Eevee called out her friend's name, everything became silent as her voice echoed throughout the green, flowery foliage.

"NATALIE!" She screamed one last time.

Shaken that Natalie hasn't responded to her cry for help, she suddenly became speechless, then she whimpered.

Everything slowed to a stop and became silent as she sat down sadly - until a familiar voice broke the silence.

"Is someone in there?" Asked a unknown voice.

The Eevee sprang to her feet in response to the voice. She knew it was familiar with her, but she knew it was not Natalie's voice at all.

"Wh-wh-who's there?" She asked nervously, looking around.

"Ah, a lost child," The voice said, revealing himself, "What are you doing here in Basil Woods?"

Frightened, she took a few steps back, recognizing the Pokémon - a Breloom.

She tried to say something, something that could tell him to stay back, but nothing came out of her mouth. Instead, she bit her lip as she took a few steps back.

Seeing the young Eevee cower in fear, the Breloom started to ponder for a moment, _This young Pokémon pretty shy around strangers, how could I get her to trust me? This may take some time._

He tried again, "Are you lost?"

The Eevee gulped and replied, "Yes, the reason why I was lost is because _somebody_ , tried to set up those Seed Bomb traps to separate me and Natalie."

"Were you looking for her? I could you out." The mushroom Pokémon asked.

"No, no," The Eevee said, denying his aid, "I don't need your help, sir. I can go look for her on my own."

"Are you sure about that?"

The young Eevee stops for a moment, _I_ _should_ _probably_ _get_ _away_ _from_ _him immediately_ _instead_ _of_ _talking_ _to_ _him_ , _talking_ _to_ _him_ _wastes_ _precious_ _time_.

Before she could break away, she decided to say one thing to the mushroom Pokémon, "Your voice sounds familiar to me - especially if you set up those Seed Bomb traps on us, Basil!"

The Breloom was taken aback at first from the Eevee's sentence, but he smiled cruelly and said, "You're a smart one, Eve. No wonder your parents are well-known researchers - but, if you were smart for your level, why did you talk to me when you knew I was a dangerous outlaw?"

Eve was shocked and lost for words. She couldn't believe that she talked to an outlaw when she shouldn't be, but she had no choice but to answer his question before attempting to flee.

"Because you talked to me," Eve answered nervously, "If I didn't answer you back - "

Basil threw his head laughing, "Poor choice of words, Eve. You're coming with me!"

He quickly thrusts his arm towards the Eevee and grabs her roughly, he then pulls her along as she desperately cried for help.

Meanwhile, a young female Pikachu peeked out of the bushes to see Eve getting dragged away by Basil.

Determined to rescue her friend, the Pikachu broke off into a run as she hid in the bushes and ran after the outlaw.


	2. Chapter 19: The Daybreak Morning

A few days later at Southpoint Town . . .

In a daybreak morning, Lux quickly opened his eyes as he looked around his surroundings in his aunt's house. First, he looked at the sunlit window, - which temporarily blinded him - then he looked at the doorway in front of him.

 _Tomorrow is another day,_ Lux heard in his mind, _For you - to become explorers._

He quickly stood up from his bed and looked at the bed next to him, it was empty. And he knew why it was empty.

 _Six must have woke up before me,_ Lux thought as he got out of his bed and walked out of his bedroom, _I must get ready for my journey today._

After he got out of his bedroom, Denmark was there to greet him by the living room table, "Good morning, Lux, did you get a good sleep last night?"

"Yes, Aunt Denmark," Lux replied enthusiastically, "I'm ready to become an explorer!"

"No need to refer me as 'Aunt', Lux," Denmark said, winking, "Just call me 'Denmark'."

Lux smiled as he walked across the living room to the doorway, he then halts to a stop to ask Denmark one thing, "Where's Six?"

"She's waiting for you outside," She replied.

"Oh, thank you, Denmark," Lux thanked her as he dashed out of the doorway.

By the time he got out of his house, Six, Amelie, Jello, Jet, and Cliff were waiting for him.

"Oh! Hi!" Amelie exclaimed excitedly to Lux as he walked up to them, "Welcome back, Lux!"

"Hey, Lux," Jet greeted him, "How's Resonate Wishes Village, Lux?"

"It's great," Lux replied happily, looking at them, "Since you already met Six before I could introduce you to her, let's go to the cafe to eat some breakfast."

All except Cliff nodded in agreement. Due to an argument between him and Riley, he was reluctant to go, but due to the guild rules he has to follow, he is required to eat breakfast before doing anything else. Realizing that there is no point in skipping breakfast, he nodded along with them as they walked to the cafe.

* * *

After finding a table and ordering their breakfast, they sat down at a table to discuss about what happened at Storm Field, Aquarius Harbor, High Class Village, and at the Forest.

"So you didn't meet one outlaw group," Commented Amelie, "You met _two_ outlaw groups. How is that even possible, Lux? Pokémon your level know better to stay away from those kind of Pokémon, so tell me how you encounter those outlaws."

Lux suddenly became speechless and frantic at the same time. It's true that he and Six encountered two outlaw groups on their way to Southpoint Town, but he doesn't know how to admit it. If he admits that one of his encounters involved stoning Pokémon, his friends - Amelie, Jello, Jet, and Cliff - would have to call him out for his recklessness - in front of Six. Again.

He gulped as he poked Six, gesturing her to tell their side of the story. Six was reluctant at first, wishing that he doesn't have to get Pokémon to help him out all the time, but she sighed and whispered to him, "I'll do it for you, Lux - but I'll do it if you help me out with the story details."


	3. Chapter 20: Recap

"We were at the ocean when we were going to Southpoint Town," Six began, "But the worse part of our ocean journey is that we end up going through Storm Field instead of going to Route 50."

"You're-you're kidding, Six," Jet stammered.

"Unfortunately, it's true, Jet," Lux agreed sadly, "We all thought we were at Route 50 at first, but turns out - we were _tricked_ into going in the Storm Field route by the Neptune Trials Pirates."

"Well, that explains why the Neptune Trials Pirates were getting more victims than usual - more than the Canis Major," Cliff growled, crossing his arms.

"Luckily, we managed to escape from them - with a _little_ help from Lake, a Meganium, and a shiny Charizard," Continued Lux.

Hearing the words "A Meganium and a shiny Charizard" made Amelie and Jello murmur in confusion.

"A Meganium? A shiny Charizard?!" Amelie whispered to Jello, "They met Blaze and Chiko? That makes me wanna go to their house in Aquarius Harbor and greet them again!"

"Save the whispering for later, Amelie," Jello whispered back.

Amelie nodded as Six continued on about what happened, "When we got into the forest, I saw a Mightyena beat up a Shaymin for - I _don't_ know - and then _Lux_ , made up the idea to stone him to make him stop."

"So you tried to stop Mirai from hurting Gratitude by _stoning_ him?" Jello questioned Lux, who was starting to sweat heavily from Jello's beady stare.

"Ye-ye-yes," Stammered Lux, "I stoned that jerk with a rock so he could stop beating up the poor Shaymin that way."

"Well, that's a reasonable statement about why you did that," Jello replied in indifference, making it hard for Lux to tell if she was angry or shocked, "But what were the consequences of that action?"

Before he could answer her question, Six bursts in with more of the details of the story on her mind, "The consequence of that action was that we accidentally attracted attention of one of his comrades - a shiny Houndoom."

"He also tried to poison Six," Lux commented, "But he poisoned me instead when I interfered. Luckily, we managed to gain the upper hand and defeat him despite disadvantages."

"Good! Did you make it to High Class Village after defeating Reaper?" Amelie wondered out loud.

"Actually, we did!" Six replied, "After we defeated the shiny Houndoom, we quickly ran into High Class Village to get to Victory's Safe Haven Office for their safety and good resting!"

"And that's - " Lux bursts in, pointing at Cliff and winking at him, "Is how we met Cliff - my childhood friend."

"Even though he nearly fell through the wooden bridge and accidentally attracting attention from the Persian and the shiny Houndoom again, we managed to make it to Southpoint Town!" Six finished.

"Cliff?" Jet asked him, "We're you involved in all of this?"

"Actually, yes," Cliff answered bluntly, "They got me involved into their - ahem - antics."

Before anyone could say something, they were interrupted by a voice.

"Your breakfast is ready!" a Furfrou happily called out to them.

"Oh yeah!" Amelie exclaimed, jumping to her feet, "Our breakfast! I'll get it!"

As Amelie sprang to her feet and ran up to the counter, Six and Lux knew one thing as they were waiting for their food - they're going to become Sagittarius Arrow's newest explorers.


	4. Chapter 21: Somebody's Familiar To Me

After the gang ate their breakfast, they quickly burst out of the cafe to do what they usually do.

While Amelie, Jello, and Jet ran to the bulletin board to see if there was any missions needed to be completed, Six and Lux ran along with Cliff into the Guild Hall.

"Hey! Where are we going?" Asked Six.

"I thought we're going to get our first mission slip, Cliff!" Lux said.

"Actually, you'll do that later, Lux," Cliff replied, "If you want to grab one of those missions slips before they're gone, you'll have to apply first."

"Apply where?" Lux and Six questioned at the same time.

Cliff stops in front of the Guild Hall with a smile, "At the guild hall! We're going to meet the guild master so we can help you two make an exploration team."

Six and Lux exchanged excited looks as they stepped into the Guild hall.

As Six, Lux, and Cliff walked down the quiet hallways of the guild, Six looked around her surroundings in the building as Cliff gave them a little tour around the hallways.

Everything displayed in the hallways stood out from the dreary hallways. Despite the hallways looking colorful and cheerful, the pictures and the figurines were the ones that stood out with their vivid colors.

But what caught her eye was a simple picture hanging on the walls.

Six quickly stops in her tracks with her eyes focusing on the picture. She then walks up to the picture to take a closer look of the photo.

 _I saw something,_ Six thought as she took a closer look at the picture frame, _Something familiar. But what? But who? I need to examine it closer._

Six squinted her eyes as she took a closer look. What she saw on the picture was five Pokémon smiling together - a Pikachu, a Meganium, a shiny Charizard, a Prinplup, and a Shaymin smiling. Together.

Before she could utter something, Lux quickly ran up to her to see what was going on.

"Six?" Lux asked with a hint of concern, "Are you alright?"

Six blinked and quickly shook her head, "Ye-yeah! I'm alright! It's just this picture that caught my eye."

" _This_ picture?" Lux asked, pointing at the picture frame.

Six nodded as they continued to examine the photo.

"You're right, Six," Lux finally said, breaking the silence, "The Pokémon in this picture _are_ familiar - especially those three Pokémon."

He points to the Meganium, the shiny Charizard, and the Shaymin in the picture while Six took a closer look at the three Pokemon.

"When I first saw this photo today," Six began, "I was wondering, 'Those Pokemon look familiar, but I couldn't place it - are they the same Pokémon we met on our journey?'."

"I thought the same too, Six," Lux replied, "With the puzzle pieces put together in my mind, I've realized one thing - I've met these Pokémon before eight years ago!"

Six gasped and quickly covered her mouth in shock and speechlessness, "You met them before?! Holy Pichus! For this whole time you haven't told me that you met them eight years ago? What if it was coincidence that you met them? Or what if that they were actually different Pokémon or - OK, you know, let's read the caption under the picture to see if your theory is correct."

Six points to a small strip of paper with writing on it under the picture frame, "Let's read what it has to say, Lux."

Lux nodded as squinted at the tiny caption under the frame.

Before she and Lux could lean in to read the small caption, they're were suddenly interrupted by Cliff, "You two! Lightning's waiting for you!"

Six and Lux backed away from the picture frame and ran after him - while looking back at the picture.


	5. Chapter 22: Lightning

Dashing into the office, Six and Lux just realized that they're going to meet the guild master himself right here and right now in this office today.

"Six! Lux!" Cliff called out to them, "Meet the guild master or my partner - Lightning!"

Six and Lux turned around to see the smiling Jolteon standing next to Cliff, who walked up to them to say hello.

"Hey guys!" The Jolteon greeted them energetically, "Welcome to Sagittarius Arrow, Southpoint Town's guild! The name's Lightning! What's yours?"

"Hey there, Lightning!" Lux greeted back to the Jolteon, walking up to him to shake his paw, "Nice to meet you, the name's Lux!"

Six then walked up to Lux and Lightning to join the conservation between them, "Lightning, the name's Six - residents of Resonate Wishes Village."

"You two are from Resonate Wishes Village?" Lightning asked, electricity flying off of his fur, "Awesome! I love new Pokemon from other regions!"

"Really?" Six said, "Aw, thank you, Lightning!"

"Your welcome, Six!" Lightning replied happily, "And now where was I?"

Cliff slowly walked up to him and placed his paw on his shoulder, "You're here to recruit these two into your guild, Lightning."

"Oh yeah!" Lightning said, "Six and Lux are planning to join Sagittarius Arrow!"

Lightning then turns around to face the two, "Six! Lux! It's time for you to become our newest explorers!"

He then gestures to Cliff, telling him to leave the office for a moment. Cliff nodded reluctantly as he walked out of the brightly lit office and waited outside in the hallways.

Lightning then walked up to his desk and opened up a drawer to pull out a piece of paper. He then proceeds to give the paper to both Six and Lux - who both accepted.

"Since Cliff told me about you two," Lightning began, "We're going to skip a step in our recruitment procedures, all you do with this sheet of paper is fill out the blanks. Oh! And also, When you're finished filling out the paper, bring it to me so I can accept you two!"

The twosome nodded as they filled out the blanks on the sheet of paper.

* * *

"And . . . Finished!" Lux exclaimed enthusiastically, lifting the pen off of the sheet of paper they were given.

"Wait, you're finished?" Lightning asked in shock, "Well, that was fast! Hand it over so I can check."

Six didn't need to be told twice. She handed in the piece of paper she and Lux just wrote on to Lightning.

As Lightning reads the paper with excitement, his smile suddenly wavered as he continued on.

"So, your team's name will be Winterfire?" Lightning asked them, fiddling with the sheet of paper Six and Lux filled out.

Six and Lux nodded their heads simultaneously.

"Are you sure about that?" He asked, "Once you pick out a name for your team, the name will be permanent. Are you sure this is the name you choose to name your team?"

"Yes sir," Six replied.

"Ok!" Lightning exclaimed happily, "You two are recruited as our newest explorers!"

In response, Six and Lux let out a big whoop as they ran out of his office to tell Cliff the good news.

"Cliff! Cliff!" Lux called out, breathlessly.

Cliff turned around and saw them running up to him, "Wh-what is it?"

"We got in," Six chimed in.

"You got in?!" Bursts in Amelie, "Impressive!"

"Whoa! Careful, Amelie!" Cliff exclaimed, pulling himself up, "You could've hurt somebody!"

"Sorry!" Replied Amelie.

"Don't mind Amelie," Jello commented, "She's just on high spirits, that's all - "

Before she could complete her sentence, Amelie bursts in again, "Oh! And also, if you want to get your mission slip today, follow me!"

Amelie then leads Six and Lux out of the guild hall while Cliff followed behind.

* * *

Walking out of the guild hall, Amelie then leads them to the bulletin board to get their mission.

"You see where Jet is?" Amelie said, walking towards the board while pointing at the colorful bulletin board, "That's where you get your missions -the mission board! Now get your mission and bring it here so Cliff can approve it!"

Six and Lux nodded simultaneously as they ran to the bulletin board where Jet was waiting.

"Hey!" Jet greeted them, "Are you here to get your first mission?"

Lux nodded with excitement.

"Great! Just remember to pick missions your rank!" Jet called out.

While Lux rummaged around the paper slips, - trying to find the perfect mission - Six quietly observes the mission board, looking around until something caught her eye.

But something caught Lux's eyes first.

"S-Six, come here," Lux whispered to her, "Look at this mission."

Six leaned in to get a closer look, the white mission slip read:

* * *

 _Help!_

 _I knew I should have listened to Cliff. I took a Platinum rank_ _mission to not only to get promoted, I also took it to rescue the poor Eevee in Basil Woods. I just wanted to make her parents happy. But unfortunately, Basil prevented me from completing the mission. If anyone is reading this mission slip right now - please rescue me!_

 _Client: Riley_

 _Rank: Platinum_

 _Reward: 1,000 Poké_

* * *

"Are you sure we should be doing this mission?" Six asked with a hint of concern.

Lux nodded grimly.

"But this mission is a Platinum rank, Lux!" Insisted Six, "We'll get in trouble for taking a mission not fit for our rank! Find another mission instead before Lightning goes ballistic about this!"

"Would you rather leave the kid and the rescuer missing forever?" Lux snapped, "Just think about it, Six. Imagine if the rescuer never came back, and imagine the kid never found!"

Hearing the words from Lux repeat by itself in her mind made Six rethink her choice.

 _Lux may be doing something reckless,_ Six thought, _But he's doing it for justice and selflessness. What should I say about it? What should I do?_

Six sighed and finally said, "Let's see what Cliff has to say about it, Lux."

Lux nodded as they walked away from the mission board to show Cliff their chosen mission.

Seeing the paper in Lux's grip, Cliff took the paper from him and read it. As he read through the mission slip, Cliff suddenly frowned at the sight of Riley's name.

"Cliff?" Six asked him quietly, "Is there something wrong?"

Cliff remained silent for a moment, until he spoke one word, "Accepted."

Six's eyes widened in horror and shock about Cliff's approval of their mission.

"Cliff!" Six choked out, "Why are you accepting that mission?"

 **Author's Note: Sorry for the late post guys! I've been at California for vacation! Now back to work!**


End file.
